Water closet seats and covers therefor

ABSTRACT

A seat and cover therefor for use in a water closet construction, the seat having a plurality of substantially rigid anchor members positioned inwardly from one or more edges of the seat and projecting downwardly from the bottom side thereof, the anchor members functioning to detachably engage eyelets or apertures associated with a fabric cover which is stretched over the upper surface of the seat.

United States Patent 11 1 Warnberg 1451 Apr. 1, 1975 1 1 WATER CLOSETSEATS AND COVERS THEREFOR [76] Inventor: Archie E. Warnberg, 3600 NW.

43rd St., Oklahoma City, Okla. 731 12 22 Filed: Jan. 2, 1974 211 Appl.No.: 430,061

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No.97,939, April 15. 1971, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part ofSer. No. 77,103, Oct. 1, 1970, abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl. 4/234, 4/242 [51] Int. Cl.. A47k 13/00, A47k 13/14, A47k13/02 [58] Field of Search 4/242, 245, 234, 243, 244,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 972,269 10/1910 Slough 4/2451,070,575 8/1913 Batson 4/245 2,286,632 6/1942 Manville 4/242 2,994,8878/1961 Thornton 4/242 3,102,276 9/1963 Warnberg 4/242 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 364,578 4/1931 United Kingdom 4/242 525.797 6/1956 Canada4/242 Primary Examinerl-Ienry K. Artis Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Laney,Dougherty, Hessin & Fish [57] ABSTRACT 10 Claims, 6 Drawing FiguresWATER CLOSET SEATS AND COVERS THEREFOR RELATED APPLICATIONS Thisapplication is a continuation-in-part of my patent application Ser. No.97,939 filed Apr. 15, 1971, now abandoned, which application is acontinuation-inpart of my patent application Ser. No. 77,103, filed Oct.1, I970, now abandoned and entitled Water Closet Seats and CoversTherefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to water closet constructions, and more particularly, to thetoilet seats used in water closet constructions, and to the manner ofattachment or securement of flexible covers to such seats.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art Various proposals have been madein the past for covering the wooden or plastic toilet seats of waterclosets with a flexible material to improve the aesthetics of the watercloset assembly, and to improve the comfort of one sitting upon theseat. In general, the flexible covers which have been provided areattached to the seat by means of some type of expansible, relativelyresilient stiffening member located in a hem, or otherwise securedaround the inner edge of the seat, and a flexible or elastic member suchas a drawstring or band of elastic disposed in a hem, or otherwisesecured. around the outer peripheral edge of the seat. The cover isplaced in position on the seat by first slightly compressing theexpansible wire or other relatively rigid member sufficiently to permitit to be passed through the opening in the seat, and then permitting thewire to expand so as to force the inner peripheral edge of the coveroutwardly beneath the lower surface of the seat. The remainder of thecover is then stretched across the top of the seat so that the elasticband or flexible drawstring or the like can be drawn, or will contract,to a position inwardly from the outer peripheral edge of the seat andadjacent the lower surface thereof. In this manner, the portion of thecover which covers the upper surface of the seat is stretched taut andprovides an aesthetic appearance. Often the type of hinge structureswhich are used for securing the seat to the bowl of the water closetsprevent the fabric cover from being pulled taut across the back side ofthe seat and a portion of the seat is left exposed in an unsightlymanner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present inventionprovides an improved water closet seat and cover combination in whichthe flexible cover can be attached to the seat quickly and easilywithout the necessity for including a wire band or other relativelyrigid member at the inner periphery of the cover, or an elastic band ordrawstring at the outer periphery. Broadly described, the presentinvention includes a seat having a plurality of downwardly extendinganchor members projecting from the lower side thereof and constitutinganchor points for the peripheral edges of the flexible cover to bemounted on the seat. The flexible cover carries eyelets or aperturessuitable for engaging the downwardly projecting anchor members securedto the seat. The outer peripheral edge of the flexible cover is slottedto pass hinge arms secured to the lower side of the seat, so that thecover can be drawn taut over the entire upper surface of the seat, andthus provide a neat and aesthetic appearance.

An object of the invention is to provide a seat, hinge and covercombination for use in water closet constructions in which the cover isquickly detachable from the seat and may be quickly positioned thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method formounting a flexible, aesthetic cover on the rigid toilet seat used inwater closet constructions so that the inclusion of an annularstiffening ring secured to the inner periphery of the flexible cover iseliminated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flexible cover fordetachably mounting on the seats of water closets so that the cover maybe quickly detached from the seat and need not include any metallic orrigid portions constituting a potential problem during the laundering ofthe cover.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a water closet seatcarrying cover anchoring devices on the lower side thereof and hinged toa water closet bowl in such a way that a fabric cover can be quickly andaesthetically placed on the seat so as to smoothly and evenly cover theentire upper side of the seat.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentas the following detailed description of the invention is read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of amajor portion of a water closet showing a seat thereon constructed inaccordance with the present invention, with anchoring devices projectingfrom the lower side of the seat, and showing a fabric cover mounted onthe seat and covering the upper side thereof.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottomplan view of the seat utilized in a water closetconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, but showing a modifiedembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view of the expanded cover used in a water closet assemblyof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referringinitially to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the water closet shown thereinincludes a bowl 10 which has, characteristically, an upper side, a frontand a rear. The bowl 10 has a seat assembly, designated generally byreference numeral 12, and a lid 14, mounted thereon by means of a hingestructure designated generally by reference numeral 16. The water closetfurther includes a water tank 18 which is mounted on the rear portion ofthe bowl 10.

The seat assembly 12 of the water closet, which is constructed inaccordance with the present invention, includes an annular or ovalshaped rigid seat 22 which may be constructed, most conveniently, ofwood or plastic. The seat 22 carries on the substantially planar lowerside thereof, a plurality of downwardly extending anchoring deviceswhich, in the illustrated embodiment, are pins 24 having sharpened endsextended into the central portion of the lower side of the seat, andhaving heads 26 of rounded configuration. A plurality of the pins 24 arespaced horizontally from each other around the seat on the lower sidethereof. and support the seat 22 on, and space it from, the bowl 10.

Mounted on the seat 22 is a flexible, annular cover 30 which may be astretchable fabric material, or other aesthetic flexible material. Thecover 30 can also be constructed of a tough, high tensile strengthpaper, or of a synthetic resin, such as where disposability is adesideratum, as in hospitals and health facilities. The flexible cover30 is, it will be noted, extended across the upper surface of the seat,and has peripheral edges 30a and 30b which are extended around the innerand outer peripheral edges of the seat, and are overlapped in the centerof the lower surface of the seat,

lt will be noted in referring to the drawings that the pins 24 havingrounded heads 26 function to anchor the flexible cover 30 to the seat22, and enable it to be stretched tautly over the upper side of the seatand around the edges thereof. A plurality of grommets or eyes 36 areformed at spaced intervals around the peripheral edges of the cover 30and are related so that each grommet or eye adjacent the innerperipheral edge 30a of the cover registers with a grommet or eyeadjacent the outer peripheral edge 30b of the cover when the cover isplaced in a position with its peripheral edges overlapped and anchoredby means of the pins 24.

For the purpose of pivotally mounting the seat 22 on the bowl 10, thehinge structure 16 includes a portion 40 which is secured to the bowl ina conventional fashion, and also includes a pair of arms 42 secured tothe lid 14 to mount the lid pivotally on the bowl. A second pair of arms44 is secured to the seat 22 to enable the seat to pivot on the bowl 10.The arms 44 are spaced horizontally from each other, and it will benoted in referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 that these arms each projectbeneath the lower side of the seat 22 and are secured to this side ofthe seat by screws or other suitable means (not shown). It will furtherbe noted in referring to H6. 4 that the back side or rear periphery ofthe seat 22 is not obstructed by the hinge structure 16, and that thehinge arms 44 do not interfere with that portion of the cover whichextends across the back side or rear periphery of the seat.

In order to assure that the flexible cover will be drawn tautly acrossthe upper side of the seat, and will be firmly and securely fastenedbeneath the seat, that portion of the outer peripheral edge 30b of thecover 30 which projects down along the back side of the seat andunderneath the seat at this location is provided with a pair of slots 48and 50 projecting from the outer peripheral edge thereof inwardly in thecover, and positioned to receive the two arms 44 of the hinge structure16. Thus, the cover does not become bunched, piled or wrinkled aroundthe hinge arms 44, but instead the hinge arms fit evenly and withoutinterference in the slots 48 and 50. To further assure that the coverfits evenly and smoothly on the seat 22, a pair of the pins 24 areprovided on the opposite sides of each of the two arms 44 of the hingestructure 16 so that anchor points for both the inner, and particularlythe outer, peripheral edges of the cover 22, exist in immediateproximity to the slots 48 and 50 in the outer peripheral edge of thecover. This is best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Lil

A slightly different embodiment of the hinge structure used to mount theseat 22 on the bowl 10 is illustrated in FIG, 5 of the drawings, Herethe hinge arms, designated by reference numeral 52, are stepped orangulated so that each hinge arm 52 includes a first horizontallyextending portion 52a connected to the pivot pin 54 of the hingestructure and a second horizontally extending portion 52b secured to thelower side of the annular seat 22. The step thus provided enables aspace to be defined between the portion 52a of the hinge arms and thelower side of the seat. This space can receive a portion of the flexiblecover 30 passed beneath the seat 22 and immediately adjacent the slots48 and 50 formed in the flexible cover. In other respects, the flexiblecover 30 and the manner in which it is secured to the seat 22 by meansof the pins 24 are substantially identical to the embodiment of theinvention depicted in FIGS. l-4.

The present invention permits the flexible covers 30 to be quicklypositioned on the annular seat 22 without the need for the inclusion ofrigid stiffening members or wires provided in a hem at the innerperipheral edge of the covers, and with no need for an elastic band ordrawstring to be provided at the outer peripheral edge of the covers.The eyelets or grommets in the edges of the cover 30 can be snapped veryquickly and easily over the pins spaced around, and firmly driven orscrewed into, the lower side of the annular seat 22, and in attachingthe cover in this way, the upper portion of the cover is drawn tautlyacross the upper side of the annular seat 22. The cover thus iswrinklefree and is very aesthetic in appearance. Moreover, by reason ofthe hinge structures described, in cooperation with the placement of thepins or anchor devices on the lower side of the seat, the rear edgeportion of the seat 22 is completely covered, and the aesthetics of aflexible covering is thus extended to this area of the seat.

Although certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been hereindescribed in order to enable the basic principles underlying theinvention to be well understood by those skilled in the art, it will beperceived that various changes and innovations can be effected in thedescribed structure without departure from these principles. Changes andinnovations of this type are therefore deemed to be circumscribed by thespirit and scope of the invention except as the same may be necessarilylimited by the appended claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A water closet assembly comprising:

a bowl having an upper side, a front and a rear;

a seat mounted on the upper side of said bowl and having a substantiallyplanar lower side and a back side;

a hinge structure pivotally connecting said seat to said bowl forpivotation about a horizontal axis, said hinge structure including:

a first portion secured to the upper side of the bowl at the rearthereof; and

a pair of arms projecting from said first portion and secured to thelower side of the seat;

a plurality of anchoring devices projecting downwardly from the lowerside of said seat and horizontally spaced from each other around saidseat; at least two of said anchoring devices supporting the seat on andspacing it from the bowl in one position of the seat; and

a flexible annular cover including an inner peripheral edge and an outerperipheral edge each secured to said anchoring devices and furtherincluding a portion between said inner and outer peripheral edgesstretched tautly across the upper side of said seat and extending atleast to the planar lower side of said seat, said cover having a pair ofspaced slots extending thereinto from the outer peripheral edge thereoftoward the inner peripheral edge and each receiving a part of one ofsaid arms where the respective arm is attached to the lower side of saidseat.

2. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each of saidanchoring devices is a pin having a rounded head spaced downwardly fromthe planar lower side of said seat.

3. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 1 and furthercharacterized as including a plurality of grommets positioned adjacentsaid inner peripheral edge and adjacent said outer peripheral edge andextending over and engaging said anchoring devices.

4. A water closet device as defined in claim 1 and further characterizedin having pairs of anchoring devices positioned on the lower side ofsaid seat adjacent each of the arms of said hinge structure and engagingat least the outer peripheral edge of said cover at points adjacent saidslots.

5. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 2 and furthercharacterized as including a plurality of grommets positioned adjacentsaid inner peripheral edge and adjacent said outer peripheral edge andpassed over and engaging said pins.

6. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein said pins aredisposed centrally in the lower side of said seat, and each of said pinshas one of the grommets adjacent said inner peripheral edge passedthereover and one of the grommets adjacent said outer peripheral edgepassed thereover.

7. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each of saidarms is angulated intermediate its length and includes:

a first horizontally extending portion spaced from the lower side ofsaid seat; and

a second horizontally extending portion secured to the lower side ofsaid seat,

said cover extending into the space between the first portion of each ofsaid arms and the lower side of said seat.

8. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 7 when each of saidanchoring devices is a pin, and two of said pins are positioned onopposite sides of said second portion of said arm.

9. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 6 and furthercharacterized in having pairs of anchoring devices positioned on thelower side of said seat adjacent each of said arms of said hingestructure and engaging grommets positioned adjacent each of the slots insaid cover.

10. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 9 wherein each of saidarms is angulated intermediate its length and includes:

a first horizontally extending portion spaced from the lower side ofsaid seat; and

a second horizontally extending portion secured to the lower side ofsaid seat,

said cover extending into the space between the first portion of each ofsaid arms and the lower side of said seat.

1. A water closet assembly comprising: a bowl having an upper side, afront and a rear; a seat mounted on the upper side of said bowl andhaving a substantially planar lower side and a back side; a hingestructure pivotally connecting said seat to said bowl for pivotationabout a horizontal axis, said hinge structure including: a first portionsecured to the upper side of the bowl at the rear thereof; and a pair ofarms projecting from said first portion and secured to the lower side ofthe seat; a plurality of anchoring devices projecting downwardly fromthe lower side of said seat and horizontally spaced from each otheraround said seat; at least two of said anchoring devices supporting theseat on and spacing it from the bowl in one position of the seat; and aflexible annular cover including an inner peripheral edge and an outerperipheral edge each secured to said anchoring devices and furtherincluding a portion between said inner and outer peripheral edgesstretched tautly across the upper side of said seat and extending atleast to the planar lower side of said seat, said cover having a pair ofspaced slots extending thereinto from the outer peripheral edge thereoftoward the inner peripheral edge and each receiving a part of one ofsaid arms where the respective arm is attached to the lower side of saidseat.
 2. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each ofsaid anchoring devices is a pin having a rounded head spaced downwardlyfrom the planar lower side of said seat.
 3. A water closet assembly asdefined in claim 1 and further characterized as including a plurality ofgrommets positioned adjacent said inner peripheral edge and adjacentsaid outer peripheral edge and extending over and engaging saidanchoring devices.
 4. A water closet device as defined in claim 1 andfurther characterized in having pairs of anchoring devices positioned onthe lower side of said seat adjacent each of the arms of said hingestructure and engaging at least the outer peripheral edge of said coverat points adjacent said slots.
 5. A water closet assembly as defined inclaim 2 and further characterized as including a plurality of grommetspositioned adjacent said inner peripheral edge and adjacent said outerperipheral edge and passed over and engaging sAid pins.
 6. A watercloset assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein said pins are disposedcentrally in the lower side of said seat, and each of said pins has oneof the grommets adjacent said inner peripheral edge passed thereover andone of the grommets adjacent said outer peripheral edge passedthereover.
 7. A water closet assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein eachof said arms is angulated intermediate its length and includes: a firsthorizontally extending portion spaced from the lower side of said seat;and a second horizontally extending portion secured to the lower side ofsaid seat, said cover extending into the space between the first portionof each of said arms and the lower side of said seat.
 8. A water closetassembly as defined in claim 7 when each of said anchoring devices is apin, and two of said pins are positioned on opposite sides of saidsecond portion of said arm.
 9. A water closet assembly as defined inclaim 6 and further characterized in having pairs of anchoring devicespositioned on the lower side of said seat adjacent each of said arms ofsaid hinge structure and engaging grommets positioned adjacent each ofthe slots in said cover.
 10. A water closet assembly as defined in claim9 wherein each of said arms is angulated intermediate its length andincludes: a first horizontally extending portion spaced from the lowerside of said seat; and a second horizontally extending portion securedto the lower side of said seat, said cover extending into the spacebetween the first portion of each of said arms and the lower side ofsaid seat.